The Mermen Tails
by H2Ozikkiaddict
Summary: Two worlds: the Mako gang and the H20 club, collide when Will spots Zac as a merman. Will becomes so jealous of merpeople, he forces Zac to get him in the moon pool on a full moon, and Will becomes a merman! Meanwhile, Nixie, Lyla, Cleo, and Rikki are fighting over who should rightfully own the moon pool, while Sirena and Bella have become friends. - Carried on from MissKatnisSwift
1. Quick note

MissKatnisSwift's original story continued by myself. 6 chapters are written by her and I will carry on. I hope I live up to the expectations to which MissKatnisSwift has done so far as it is an extraordinary story. I have been friends on ff for a while with her and we are currently doing two collars on here :)

I am hoping to take over as soon as possible so by March maybe?


	2. Chapter 1: Zac

**The Mermen Tails**

**This story was originally created by MissKatnisSwift who passed the story onto me which I am really exited to take over from. The first 6 chapters are by her and the rest is continued by myself. Please review and I hope I live up to the expectations of MissKatnisSwift!**

**So here is Chapter 1:**

* * *

Will pulled himself out of the water. He had just finished a morning swim.

Finally I can swim without Sophie making me do perfect, he thought.

Sophie walked over to him.

"So you just finished a swim?" she asked.

Will nodded his head.

"And, uh…you did pretty well, right?" Sophie still wouldn't shut up about Will joining the Olympics.

"Soph, forget it. I am not a World Champion and I never will be" Will responded.

"But…the fame, the publicity, the–"

"Money? I know. But I don't want to do it, ok? So drop it."

Sophie scoffed and walked away.

In the back of Will's mind, he had a feeling that he let Sophie down, and maybe he should've done what she wanted.

But Will deleted that thought and jumped back into the water.

He began to swim around and look at the underwater fish.

All of a sudden, Will saw a huge blue tail come out of nowhere.

Curious, he followed the fish towards a beach.

Will got a closer look. He got a feeling. A treacherous feeling you get when something isn't what it seems.

When he got close enough, Will was able to get a view of the fish as clear as day.

His jaw dropped. Water went into his mouth.

The fish was half boy.

It was a black-haired boy with a blue tail.

A merman.

The merman looked at Will. He had a fearful look on his face and turned away. The merman torpedoed away.

And Will knew the direction it was headed– Mako Island.

A merman?! On the Gold Coast?!

Will wondered if the merman he saw was related to Bella, Rikki, or Cleo.

No, they wouldn't lie.

Or maybe they had a brother who just transformed.

No, I would've met him before.

Whatever. I'm going home.

Zac swam into the pool at Rita's house.

"Lyla! Sirena! Nixie!" he called through the grotto as soon as he was dry and human again.

Lyla stood up.

"What's wrong?" Nixie asked.

"We have a problem." Zac said.

"What happened?" questioned Sirena.

"Well…I was swimming along, and all of a sudden, there was this diver boy who, um…"

"He saw you? Zac you should've been more careful!" Nixie said.

Rita came into the room.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Zac was exposed to another land boy." Lyla answered.

"Oh, no." Rita put her hands on her head.

"Rita, don't worry. We'll fix it" Sirena assured her.

"Did you get a good look at him?" Lyla told Zac.

"Not really. I panicked and swam away."

"Well, we've gotta find him. He could tell everyone!" Nixie started to sound really worried.

"Nixie, we will figure it out." Sirena held her arm with her hand.

Bella walked into Rikki's cafe. She found Will sitting all alone in a booth.

"You wanted to see me?" she asked.

Will nodded. He seemed a little…stunned.

"Is everything okay?" Bella said.

"There's…another…another…"

"Another what?"

"I was taking a morning swim this morning, and I saw a…a tail."

Bella blinked in disbelief.

"Are you sure it wasn't Cleo or Rikki?"

"No. It was a blue tail. Anyway, I followed it, and it turns out that it was a…merman."

Bella gasped.

A merman?!

"But–it–it can't be!"

Bella stood up to go find Cleo and Rikki, but she was stopped by another boy. She tried to go around him, but he stood in front of her. Over and over she tried to walk past the boy. He would stand in front of her, she would go the other way, and he would block her. This went on for what seemed like forever.

Finally, Bella shoved him aside and walked away.

Meanwhile, the boy who blocked her stood in front of Will.

"Hey, you!" he said.

Will looked up at him. His eyes widened and he stood up.

"Hey, you're that merman I saw this morning!"

A dark-haired girl from behind the boy said, "I told you he would remember you!"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Zac. You?"

"My name's Will. What the heck are you? I mean, I just thought there were only Rikki, Cleo, and Bella–"

Oh, great. Now he had spilled the girls' secret!

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

Will didn't say anything. He looked at the three girls behind him.

"Are you, uh, also, I guess you could say…mermaids?"

The three girls exchanged nervous glances.

Silence flowed through the five of them.

Finally, Will gave up and walked fast out of the cafe.

Zac ran after him.

"Will! Wait up!"

Will didn't look back.

Zac grabbed his arm.

"Look, yes, I am a merman, but you can't tell anyone. If you do there will be trouble."

Will wanted to tell Zac that there were also another three mermaids out there.

"Okay. I'll stay quiet."

He walked away and didn't turn around.

"…So anyway, that boy named Will said he would keep quiet." Lyla explained to Rita. "And we will all be safe."

"Just like that? I don't really think he'd just agree that fast." Rita said doubtfully.

"So what? At least we won't be exposed. Just be happy that Will isn't going to blab about merpeople to the world."

"We don't know that for sure–"

"Rita, could you just be a little bit hopeful for once? You always look at the bad side and look out for the worst." Nixie retorted.

"That's because I don't want us to be exposed–"

"No, you just don't want you to be exposed. You don't care about anyone but yourself."

Nixie angrily stormed out of the grotto.

"No way! A merman?" Rikki said at the moon pool.

"Yep. Will was swimming and he saw a boy with a blue tail!"

"Wel, does he know about us?" Cleo nervously asked.

"Thankfully, no. But he's pretty sure there are another three mermaids out there"

"Really?"

"I don't know their names. But we need to be careful at all costs."

But just then, there was another black-brown haired mermaid who entered the moon pool. She looked at the others with shock.

Another sandy blonde mermaid swam in, and she was followed by a blonde mermaid.

"Who are you?" Cleo asked.

The brunette mermaid said, "I'm Nixie, and this is Lyla and Sirena. What're you doing in our secret place?"

"Your secret place? This cave is ours." Rikki responded.

"No, it's not! We were here first!" Lyla said.

"We became mermaids here!"

"We were born mermaids and have lived here all our lives!"

"We won't just leave and let you have it!"

"Well we won't just swim away and give it up!"

"Guys, can't we all just share the moon pool?" Sirena asked.

Bella nodded. "Yeah, it's not like we desperately need it to live."

"Well, where else will we go?!" Rikki angrily asked.

"We want you to be gone tomorrow" Lyla said.

"We're not going anywhere!" Cleo chimed in.

"Neither are we!" Nixie replied.

All of the mermaids turned away from each other. Nixie, Lyla, Cleo, and Rikki swam out of the moon pool.

Sirena and Bella were alone.

"How did this happen so fast?" Sirena said.

"I don't know. I think we should stay out of it. By the way, I'm Bella. Are you Sirena?"

"Yeah. Maybe we could be friends?"

"Yes." Bella smiled, and so did Sirena.

Enemies, and friends, had formed.

* * *

**So this was written by the wonderful MissKatnisSwift and I personally was griped with the story since I read it so I will update further chapters tomorrow or if not, soon. If you want to read the first 6 chapters go to MissKatnisSwift's page. :)**


	3. Chapter 2: we have a problem

Rita awoke one morning to find Poseidon lying next to her. She stroked his back, and her fingers could feel the vibration of the white cat's purring.

Suddenly, Lyla burst into her bedroom.

"Rita! We have a problem!" Lyla exclaimed. Rita sat up.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Sirena and I woke up and Nixie is gone!"

"Where in the world would she go? She hardly knows the land."

Sirena jogged in.

"I think I know where she is." Sirena said.

Lyla and Sirena ran out of the grotto and dove into the pool outside of Rita's cave.

It wasn't long before they had sped towards the beach and dried themselves off as quickly as possible.

They started running towards the cafe. Not the Ocean Cafe. The other cafe where they first met Will.

There it was: The red glowing sign that spelled out the title "Rikki's".

Lyla followed Sirena into the cafe.

Nixie stood not far away, right in front of Will. She was confronting him!

From so far away, the others couldn't hear what she was saying. But Sirena and Lyla obviously knew she was threatening him.

Nixie pushed him a bit, and Will said something back, and walked off without another word.

Lyla narrowed her eyes and stomped straight over to Nixie.

"What did you say to him?" Lyla demanded.

"I told him to stay quiet." Nixie crossed her arms.

"He was perfectly fine before, and then you had to go and medal with it!"

"I did it so he wouldn't say a single word."

"Zac was also worried about Will telling the world!"

"Since when have you ever listened to what Zac says?"

"Since it means we could end up locked up and exposed as mermaids!"

Nixie pushed Lyla aside and glared at Sirena.

The next thing they knew, Nixie had stormed out of Rikki's cafe.

Sirena and Bella met secretly at the moon pool. They had so much in common, and felt like they'd been BFFs forever.

"So who do you like?" Bella asked.

"I really like this boy David who works at the Ocean Cafe" Sirena responded. "How about you?"

"I'm dating Will"

"You are?"

"Yeah, he too was pretty shocked to find out I was a mermaid"

"Did you tell him personally?"

"No. He got me wet, I dove into the canal, and he followed me, and saw me with a tail."

"David doesn't know I'm a mermaid"

"Well, do you think you should tell him?"

"More than anything" Sirena sighed. "But Nixie and Lyla would kill me if I did."

"Why do you always listen to what they say?"

"Oh, it's a long story."

"I've got time."

"Well, it all started one night on a full moon. Back then, Nixie, Lyla, and I were mermaids forever. We didn't have legs. Anyway, under the moonlight in the moon pool, somehow, Zac managed to find an entrance into the moon pool. The next thing we knew, Zac had fallen into the moon pool, and he became, a, a merman. We didn't know that until the next day when we saw him fall into the canal. When we returned to Mako and told the pod–"

"Wait, what's a pod?" Bella quickly asked.

"It's a group of mermaids who used to live at Mako. We once lived with them. Anyway, they were furious and thought it was our fault Zac fell into the moon pool, and they…cast us out."

"You mean they kicked you out of the pod?"

"Of course not! They didn't have legs." Sirena and Bella chuckled. "But yeah, they left Mako and Nixie, Lyla, and I were left alone on the island. Everyone in the pod left, even my sister, Aquata!"

"Sirena, I'm so sorry. That's so sad"

Sirena nodded her head.

"Anyway, the point is that Lyla, Nixie, and I are like sisters. We practically live together. If I let them down, I will lose the only friends I have!"

Sirena felt tears starting to come out of her eyes.

But then she felt Bella's hand grasp hers.

"Sirena, I'm your friend now, and I will always be here for you."

Bella smiled. So did Sirena.

Sirena had made another mermaid friend, one she could actually count on.

Cleo found Zac sitting at the Ocean Cafe, not far from Rikki's cafe.

She quickly identified him as the merman Will had seen.

All she had to do was make sure.

Hmmmm…

Cleo thought hard. She had to get him wet without getting herself wet, too. Otherwise they'd both be in big trouble.

In the corner of her eye, she spotted a drink of water sitting in front of Zac.

Cleo walked a little further over to him, made sure no one was looking, and–

Splash!

Cleo had used her powers to tip over that glass of water. Zac's arm was soaking wet.

While frantically looking for somewhere to hide, his arm water had splashed Cleo. It was only a few drops, but enough to make the transformation occur.

Oh, great!

Both of them darted into the supply closet, and lost their legs together.

The magic sensation made them lose their balance and they fell over with an orange and blue tail taking their legs' place.

Both of them looked at each other in shock.

"So there are other mermaids!" said Zac.

"And you're that merman Will saw!" Cleo exclaimed.

Zac's face made a scowl. "You mean he told people?!"

"Relax! He just told Bella, and Bella told Rikki and I–"

"Who is this Bella girl?"

"His girlfriend and–"

"Well in my experience, do not EVER tell your girlfriend about merpeople!"

"What is your problem anyway?"

"My problem is thanks to you I was nearly exposed as a fish!"

"That makes two of us!"

"Oh, so it's my fault you poured water on me?"

"And it's my fault I know about you?"

"Whatever."

Zac started to heat up the water on his tail.

Cleo was fascinated and confused why he had the same powers as Rikki.

Soon, he was a boy again and started drying off Cleo's tail.

"How long have you been a mermaid?" Zac asked. He somehow wanted to know.

"Well, about two or three years." Cleo responded.

"I've only been a merman for about three months."

"Only?" Cleo thought that was a lot longer than he said.

"So, um, how much do you know about mermaid history?"

Cleo shrugged. "Not much, I guess. Why?"

"Well, it's just, I wanted to know if you knew about…never mind."

By then, Cleo's tail was completely dry and her legs came back to her.

Cleo stood up. She slowly smiled at Zac and she watched him step out of the supply closet.

Cleo felt her heart…beating. Not normally. She felt that feeling when you just meet a boy you, well, like.

Cleo didn't know exactly why, but she sort of liked Zac. Not just as some merman that Will spotted.

She had never felt like this ever since she first met Lewis when they were five.

But she didn't have deep feelings for Zac.

Cleo didn't know her feelings for Zac so well, but she did know one thing:

Zac was hiding something more than just the fact he was a merman.

Just for clarification, I was thinking Zac was "hiding" the Trident from Cleo to keep her and her friends safe because of what he did to Lyla.


	4. Chapter 3: The camera never lies

***  
Will slouched on the wooden dock. He stared at the water.

There's merpeople everywhere. I'm the only odd one out.

He didn't know why, but Will wanted to be…like Zac.

A merman.

Swimming freely in the ocean, someplace where he could hide from all annoying people (aka Sophie).

A small smile hit his face when Will pictured just swimming in the deep blue sea, feeling more free than ever.

He closed his eyes and imagined living with a blue tail.

But he was stuck with legs.

Will was jealous. Of all the mermaids.

Ever since he found out about Bella, he never told anyone, but felt different from everyone else around him. All his friends were sea creatures.

Compared to how the girls felt different about being mermaids, Will felt the same, but as a human.

I want to be a merman, and that's just what will happen.

A little while later, Will had invited Zac over to talk about…something.

"Hey, Will." Zac said as he approached Will's boat shack.

Will sat up from the dock.

"Sit down, Zac." Will said in his trying-to-be-nice tone.

Zac sat down. Will brought a camera from behind him.

"I just got this new camera." Will said.

"It looks pretty cool." commented Zac.

"HD retina display, focuses on every single picture."

"Neat."

Will stood up and paced back and forth.

He took a quick glance at Zac, then at the camera.

Zac had a confused look on his face. What was Will doing?

Suddenly, Zac felt Will's hands shove him into the canal.

Zac swam up to the surface, and within seconds, his clothes and legs were replaced with a blue tail.

Gasping for air, Zac scowled at Will. Before he knew it, Will had snapped a picture of him, as a merman. He splashed at the camera, hoping it would mess up the photo, but it was too late.

He turned to swim away. "Not so fast." Will called.

Zac turned around nervously at Will.

Will turned his camera to the screen and showed the picture of Zac as a merman to him.

Unlike Zac's hopes, the picture clearly showed everything a merman picture would need: Zac's face, and more importantly, the scaly blue tail that showed up on the small camera screen.

"What have you done?" asked Zac.

Will didn't answer his question.

"Like I said, this camera makes really good pictures. It would be a shame if this one showed to the public."

Zac gasped. "You wouldn't."

"Yes, I would. In fact, I could run this to the press right now."

"Please, don't!" Zac's do-not-do-that-or-else voice had turned into his please-oh-please-don't-do-that-I-will-do-anything voice.

"Well, under one condition."

"Anything. Anything at all." Zac gazed at Will, wondering what he was going to say.

"If you get someone in the moon pool on a full moon then…"

"They will become a mermaid or merman."

"It seems pretty cool to be a merman, huh?"

"Will, just get to the point!"

"Get me in the moon pool on a full moon, or else this picture will be on every single newspaper within a hundred miles."

Zac's jaw dropped.

Either risk it all by refusing to make Will a merman…

Or do as he says and protect his secret…

Will's eyebrows narrowed.

"I'm waiting for an answer…" said Will.

If he didn't get Zac in the moon pool, that picture would be everywhere…

People would know he was a merman…

People would figure out about the girls…

Nixie, Sirena…

and Lyla.

She'd be in big trouble…

They would do experiments on her…

They would send her to a circus…

Finally, Zac nodded his head at Will.

"Okay. It's a deal."

Will smirked.

Zac turned and finally had a chance to swim far, far away.

Nixie sat on the couch and stared at the wall.

Lyla came into the room and glared at Nixie. She started to turn away, but Nixie stopped her.

"Lyla, wait." Nixie said.

"What is it?" Lyla asked.

Nixie was quiet for a moment.

"I'm sorry for being so rude at the cafe."

"It's fine."

"I just can't help but get the feeling Will wants something more than to know about Zac."

"Like what?"

"Like, maybe he wants to become…you know…"

Lyla shook her head and smiled.

"Come on, Nixie. We both know that won't happen. You're just imagining the worst."

"I know. I just have a feeling we shouldn't trust Will."

"Nixie, you heard him. Will said he won't tell anyone."

"Yeah. Maybe I am just imagining things."

"Exactly."

That night, Will spent an entire fifteen minutes staring at the photo of Zac as a merman.

Soon he would be like that.

He imagined his face replacing Zac's.

It would be the best time every.

Will turned off his camera and set it on the table.

He waled towards the couch and closed his eyes, feeling more happy than ever.

But happiness would soon be trouble as a snoopy Sophie walked in.

What picture was he staring at? she thought.

Sophie stood by the wall for a good twenty minutes until when she knew Will was asleep.

She tiptoed towards the table and lifted Will's camera off of the table.

Then Sophie pressed the red power button and the screen lit up.

A photo popped up on the screen.

A photo more jaw-dropping than ever.

Sophie gaped at the image.

She couldn't take her eyes off of it.

It was a picture of a boy.

Not just a normal boy.

This boy had black hair, and he had a blue tail.

No regular boy was on that screen.

This was some sort of fish.

Half-teenage boy, half-fish.

A merman. A real live merman.  
***


	5. Chapter 4: As cold as ice

Chapter 4

The morning Gold Coast sunshine forced Will to open his eyes. He sat up on the couch and looked at his calendar.

The next full moon would be on next Thursday.

On the outside, Will was smiling, but deep down in his mind, he felt guilty for threatening to expose Zac unless he got him in the moon pool on a full moon.

He couldn't help it. His conscience told him to just apologize to Zac and just forget about becoming a merman.

But he wouldn't. Will wouldn't stop until he was a merman. This was what he wanted, and this was what he would get.

Sophie's faint voice coming from her bedroom hit Will's ear.

What is she talking about?

Will looked at the table. The camera was gone!

Oh, no.

Will quietly got up from the couch and walked over to Sophie's room.

Of course, she had the camera on her desk. She was sitting on her bed, talking on the phone.

"Yes…Today at 2:00…Can you get them printed?…Well, actually just one…a merman!…stop laughing!…Yes, that's what I told you…I'M NOT CRAZY!…Thank you…Sophie Benjamin…I'll pick up the photo later today…Yes…bye."

Sophie hung up on the phone. Will knew that was the correct time to enter the room.

"What was that all about?" Will asked. There was no doubt Sophie was trying to hide the camera from her brother.

"What was what all about?" She asked innocently.

"You were getting photos printed–"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Will dug out the camera from her hands behind Sophie's back.

"What are you doing with my camera?" he asked.

"Nothing! I was just…looking at some pictures."

"Of what?"

Sophie finally broke down. She grabbed the camera and showed Will the photo of Zac.

"Will, take a look at this! It's a photo of a real, one hundred percent real merman. A merman! There's nothing else like this in Australia! Think about it: We'll be famous, we'll make millions of dollars!"

A scowl printed on Will's face.

"Absolutely not. We are not telling anyone about this."

Will snatched the camera from Sophie and stormed out of her room.

I'll prove it to him! I'll make money myself. I'll show that photo to the world! Sophie thought.

Zac swam into the moon pool where Sirena, Nixie, and Lyla were.

"Um guys we have a problem" said Zac.

"What is it this time?" Nixie said, sounding annoyed.

"Yesterday Will shoved me in the water and took a picture of me–"

"What?" said Lyla and Sirena at the same time.

"It gets worse: he said that if I didn't gt him in the moon pool on a full moon he'd show the photo to the world!"

Lyla shook her head.

"You can't get him in the moon pool" she said.

"But he can't just let Will expose him!" Nixie pointed out.

All four merpeople were silent.

One photo, One crisis.

Sophie was determined to expose the merman.

But first of all, she had to find out who he really was. He had to be a teenage boy on land.

She walked casually to the cafe. Sophie went to work but kept an eye out for the boy that looked like the merman in the photo.

Sophie served customers, washed dishes, and flirted with Zane. Same routine as always.

But for hours, that boy didn't show up. Frustration and disappointment kept building up in Sophie's body.

Finally, about an hour before Rikki's was going to close, Sophie's heart leapt.

A dark-haired boy walked into the cafe.

Sophie smiled as she realized he was the merman from the picture.

All she had to do was prove it.

She polished a dish with a towel, the glued her eyes to the boy.

Just as planned, he sat down in a chair.

Sophie marched to his table.

"Welcome to Rikki's cafe. Can I get you anything?" she said.

"Uh, I'll just have an ice water." he responded.

"Okay. Coming right up!" Sophie was acting more cheerful than ever.

She walked back to the counter and poured him a water. Sophie also grabbed a wet rag, which was a part of her plan.

Sophie placed the drink on his table. She pretended to wipe his table, but it was part of her scam.

Wham! Sophie pretended to make it an accident, but she really purposely knocked over the cup of ice water while wiping his table.

The freezing cold water splashed onto the boy's lap.

Ice cubes fell to the floor.

"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry" Sophie said innocently.

Frantically, the boy darted into the office, with Sophie following him.

He slammed the door and the transformation turned him into a merman.

Zac sat up. He was shocked to find out he wasn't alone: the red-headed waitress was right behind him.

The girl smirked.

"Wh-wh-who are you?" Zac stammered.

"I'm Sophie. And you are?" she responded.

"Zac. I'm Zac."

"Well, Zac, it is my understanding that my brother got a photo of you."

Will. He showed the photo to her!

"You can't tell anyone!"

Sophie rolled her eyes.

"Well I am not going to tell anyone."

Zac breathed a sigh of relief.

"But I am going to show that photo to the world." Sophie finished.

Zac's eyes widened.

"Please! Don't do that!"

"You can't stop me, you fish."

The name struck Zac like lightning.

"But why?"

"The publicity, fame, and money."

"Please–"

"I have made up my mind and I will not change it."

Sophie walked out of the office.

Back at the Ocean Cafe, Bella and Sirena waited for performing time.

They were going to sing a duet together.

Sirena and Bella had worked on a song together.

At last, David announced the time for performing.

Bella and Sirena walked onstage.

"David, we're gonna do a duet together." Sirena said. "This is Bella."

Bella smiled at David. Sirena was right. He was kinda cute.

David started playing his guitar. Bella and Sirena gripped their microphones.

Their harmonious singing voices filled the cafe with a beautiful song.

Singing together, they brought everyone's spirits up.

I thought that life was kind,

Just a state of mind,

Then I found you and the sun shone brightly.

It's like when you're alone,

Just pick up the phone,

I hear your voice and I don't feel so empty.

I, I,

You can do anything,

I, I, I.

'Cause I, I, I believe in all that I can be.

And I, I, I fell like the air,

Now I can breath.

And think about love, 'bout love,

And think about you.

The customers applauded. Sirena and Bella smiled at each other.

The two held hands and bowed before to the audience.

They loved it that way; being together, singing together, it was perfect.

***


	6. Chapter 5: Staying away

Chapter 5

Zac couldn't believe Will had so stupidly let Sophie see the picture.

He should have been careful!

His secret was in danger because of Will's dumbness.

And Zac was going to confront him about that.

Angry, Zac stormed to Will's dirty boat shack.

He saw Will about to dive into the water. He was wearing a diving suit.

"Hey." Zac called to him.

"What do you want?" said Will as he turned around.

"You let her see it!"

"Huh?"

"Sophie. Your sister. She saw the picture!"

"What picture?"

"That stupid picture you took of me!"

"Oh."

"I can't believe you!"

"What does this have to do with me?"

"First of all, you shouldn't have even taken the photo in the first place. And second of all, she saw it!"

"How?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"She must've found it in my camera. She always snoops through my things!"

"I just can't believe you were so stupid enough to do that!"

"I'm stupid? Says the boy who is afraid if someone says the word 'merman'!"

"Well, you an forget about the moon pool and you becoming a merman!" Zac shouted.

A snoopy Sophie came around the boat shed and walked towards the two arguing boys.

"What's going on?" she asked.

The boys exchanged a glance.

"Nothing." Zac muttered. He stormed away from the boat shed.

"Sophie how could you!" Will said to his sister.

"How could I what?" Sophie was doing her 'innocent baby girl' routine.

"You went through my camera and saw the picture!"

The smile fell off of Sophie's face.

"Well I am going to protect you." she said.

"From who?"

Sophie looked at Zac, who was almost away from the Benjamins' home.

"From him." Sophie pointed at Zac.

"I don't need protecting."

"But you don't understand. He's a fish!"

"Sophie, you need to stay out of my business and out of my personal life!" Will shouted and stomped inside the shed.

Sirena and Bella sat together at the Ocean Cafe. Ever since they had talked at the moon pool, they never left each other's side.

But happiness left when Nixie, Cleo, Rikki, and Lyla came in.

They weren't happy to see the two together.

Lyla and Rikki stormed towards them.

"We're leaving." both of them said at the same time. Rikki grabbed Bella's arm, as well as Lyla grabbed Sirena's.

The two looked longingly at each other. When the groups reached outside, the two new friends were yanked away from each other and pulled in opposite directions.

"What where you thinking?" demanded Rikki when the other group was gone.

"I just, I–" Bella stuttered.

"They're bad news, Bella. You can't trust them." Cleo said.

"Guys, Sirena isn't that bad."

Rikki shook her head furiously.

"Bella, we can't rely on them. We don't rely on anyone but ourselves"

"You don't rely on anyone but yourself" Bella muttered.

"We're doing this for your own good." said Cleo.

Before Bella could speak, Rikki stormed off, with Cleo following her.

At the same time, Lyla and Nixie confronted Sirena.

"Sirena, what where you doing with her?" Lyla said.

"She's not–" Sirena started to say.

Nixie cut her off. "Look, they're land girls. They don't know the seriousness."

"They're mermaids, too!" Sirena protested.

"We can't trust them. They don't know about the Trident. They don't know about Rita. They don't know anything." said Lyla with her teeth gritted.

"They're not as stupid as you think they are!" Sirena was now blinking back a few tears.

"Well, that doesn't mean we can go and make friends!" Nixie pointed out.

"Yes it does." Sniffling, Sirena ran away from them. She dove into the water. She swam far, far away. Far from land. She didn't even realize she was far from Mako Island.

When she finally surfaced, she had no idea where she was.

There was no land. There was no island. There was only water. Lots of it.

"Hello?" Sirena called. No one answered. She started feeling worried. What if she'd never be able to make it back to Mako?

But her worries vanished. Bella poked her head out of the water.

"Bella, they won't let me be near you." said Sirena.

"That's what Rikki and Cleo said." replied Bella.

"It's not fair. Lyla, Nixie, Rikki, and Cleo are fighting and we're stuck in the middle." Sirena shook her head.

"It happens all the time. Whenever Rikki and Cleo are in an argument, I'm forced to take sides." Bella agreed.

Another mermaid came along. A sandy blonde-haired mermaid with shells in her hair.

Aquata. Sirena's long-lost sister.

"Aquata!" Sirena swam into her sister's arms.

Joy turned to panic as Aquata saw Bella.

Aquata dove back into the water.

"Wait!" Sirena called.

Sirena dove after her.

Bella was confused. Who was this mysterious mermaid? Why did she have shells in her hair? Why did she swim away when she saw her?

Minutes later, Sirena and Aquata resurfaced.

Aquata nervously stared at Bella's tail and matching top.

"What pod are you from?" said Aquata, at last.

"I'm not from a pod." Bella said.

Aquata looked confused.

"She's from land." Sirena explained.

"Then how come you have a tail?" Aquata asked.

"It's kind of a long story." Bella felt this was getting more and more awkward.

"We've got time." said Aquata.

"Okay. It all started when I was living far from here. I was exploring the shore, when I found a cave. I jumped in and a full moon came over."

"And that's when it happened?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I am Aquata. Sirena's sister."

"I'm Bella. Nice to meet you."

"But…I thought it was just the moon pool at Mako…"

Bella shrugged. "I guess it isn't."

"Aquata, where's the pod?" Sirena anxiously asked.

Aquata sighed. "Sirena, the pod is far from here. I'm just swimming around to gather food."

"Oh. Okay." Sirena nodded her head slowly.

"Well, I need to go." Aquata and Sirena hugged each other one more time just before Aquata swam away from the two.

"Sirena…are you okay?" Bella asked. She saw that her friend was blinking back tears.

"I just wish she could stay." said Sirena.

"Well, I think we should try to find Mako Island."

Nodding, Sirena went underwater with Bella and the duo began searching for the island.

Back at the boat shed, Sophie had a notepad in front of her. She fiddled with her pen.

Sophie was planning to write a letter to the Gold Coast Newscast.

She decided to write her letter like this:

Dear Sirs of the Gold Coast Newscast,  
My name is Sophie N. Benjamin. I am 23 years old. I believe that I have made a scientific discovery of the century; enclosed is a picture that my younger brother took. It clearly shows a merman. Note that this is not photoshopped, and was taken with the Canon S4R camera.

Thank you,

Sophie Natalie Benjamin

It was perfect. It didn't sound like a joke, and it certainly had the photo of Zac as a merman.

Sophie folded the letter and placed it into an envelope. She gently put the picture in with it. After sealing it and addressing it, Sophie went outside and placed it in the mailbox.

She heard a 'cha-ching' in her mind and had a vision of dollar signs.

Money was on its way.

1 Hour Later

On his way back home, Will spotted an envelope sticking out of the mailbox. He wondered what it was.

Will walked over towards it. He took the letter out of the envelope. As he unfolded the letter, a picture of Zac fell onto the wood platform.

Will didn't even need to read the letter. He already knew it clearly:

Sophie betrayed him and planned to send this photo to the world.

Mired in his own anger, Will tore the letter into a million pieces and kicked the scraps of paper into the water. He tore up the photo and let it drop into the water.

This was not how siblings treat each other! Will was about to become a merman and Sophie would nearly expose him.

And he was going to tell no one.

The night of the full moon had approached.

He stared at the clock, waiting for Zac to show up alre

Will ran to his boat. He pulled the motor frantically, like it was the end of the world. When his boat started going, the two boys started heading for Mako Island.

Will's flashlight shone onto the blue tail that replaced Zac's legs. He followed the blue fish towards the magical island. Zac was careful not to torpedo away, because then Will would never catch up with him.

After what seemed like forever, the duo at last reached Mako Island. Will pulled his boat up on the shore. Zac dried off in the sand. When his tail was gone, they started walking towards the moon pool.

"So tell me, when do I become a merman?" Will asked.

"Once you get into the moon pool…when the moon passes over…the next day…you touch water…you're a merman." Zac told him, fighting through branches of leaves.

Mother Nature didn't exactly agree with Will's plan. She sent twigs, spiders, rats, and howling winds that threw them off course. But the two men fought through the obstacles and finally reached where they needed to be.

Will jumped down the hole. Zac followed. Too excited to feel the pain of Zac landing on top of him, Will ran into the cave. Zac wasn't far behind.

When the moon passed over, Will wasted no time jumping in. He felt the tingle in his body. Sparks of light rose up to the moon pool. The water bubbled.

It was time.  
***


	7. Chapter 6: Zane Bennett

After storming away from Serina and the other land girls, Bella, Emma, Cleo and Rikki; nixie decided it was time to go to the moon pool.

She swam in, checking for others and she was surprised, no-one was here. She bet that Bella and Serina had been here or had met somewhere else and she half expected the land girls to start claiming it was their land again. But, no, she was alone, all alone.  
She lay calmly floating on the surface looking at the dark night sky from above the pool, suddenly she heard someone rise from the tunnel and onto the waters surface, she rolled her eyes coming into a sitting position  
"Can I please get some privacy, I'm trying to think!" Nixie said and when she looked she saw Rikki glaring at her, frozen in a deathly cold stare.  
"That makes two of us" she said  
"Your not a mermaid, you don't know half the stuff I'm going through right now" nixie spoke up.  
"Boy problems, I see" Rikki said rolling her eyes "not worth it, now you wanna here real problems or not?"  
"How would you know, at least you've met land boys. I have no idea what they like and what they want" nixie said  
"Well it's been riveting but I obviously can't stay" Rikki said  
"Oh, I get it" nixie said  
"Get what?" Rikki said  
"You, have boy problems too, don't you"  
"It's none of your business"  
"Maybe not but..." Nixie was cut off. The full moon rose above the island and suddenly a video was reflected on the wall of the tunnel.

Rikki's pov  
One moment I was thinking, the next my mind was taken over by as powerful force, it drew me towards the video in front of me. I immediately regretted this as it was a video of the day Zane kissed Sophie. It repeated again and again until I couldn't bare it any more... The kiss, the deadly kiss...

Nixie's Pov  
I found myself almost in a dream and I stopped my sentence suddenly. I looked up at the wall where a video was showing, it was of Cam. The day we acted as though we were girlfriend and boyfriend. The day I played breaking up with him a dropped the milkshake on his head. It then showed his face.  
"Great job back their, you were great at acting" I said smiling  
"That was acting?" He asked, his face grew disappointed  
"Yeah, you knew that" I replied  
"Yeah, of course. I should be so lucky, to have a girl like you to break up with" he said  
I laugh a little "really?" I ask. Sirena calls me and I leave, I still remember his face, dropping to the ground and it broke my heart secretly.

No-one's pov  
Rikki and Nixie both looked away and the video stopped. Tears where in both of their eyes for the first time in a while. They turned to look at each other puzzled.  
"Why are you sad, you don't even..." They both said and paused  
"You don't know Zane" Rikki said  
"What?" Nixie replied  
"Zane, the dude in the video" Rikki said  
"No that was Cam" nixie said  
"No way, I would know, he's my boyfriend...was my boyfriend...was not is" Rikki said  
"Wait... What does 'Zane' look like?" Nixie asked  
"Brown hair, tall.." Rikki started  
"We saw different video's, it's called an atronomic displacement and basicly it's were the full moon generates energy and takes strong memories out of our heads and projects them so only we can see them. It's a thing the pool hasn't done for at least 10 years and it's supposed to be a warning, like something is supposed to happen to whoever is in the pool" nixie explained  
"Impossible" Rikki said  
"Not really, if you think about it. Sirena and Bella are friends, Cleo and Lyla are supposed to be friends and as much as I hate to say it, so should we" nixie said  
"Why should I trust you and what you say. This ment nothing and if you dare speak a word about this then your dead, you here me!" Rikki shouted and swam away  
Zane? Her old boyfriend? Wait... Things might start to add up now...  
Nixie swam away to the ocean cafe where she saw David.  
"David!?" Nixie shouted  
"Yes Nixie, can I get you anything?" He asked politely  
"Theirs another cafe right? One the other side of town?" Nixie asked  
"Yeah, why?" David asked  
"What's it called and who runs it?" Nixie asked  
"It called Rikki's, and it's run by a jerk named Zane. I've been in there once but I don't know much about it. Why?" David co"Never mind, see ya!" Nixie calls and leaves.I knew I had heard it before! She thinks. Let's find out about this Zane boy and then maybe I have a shot at being friends with Rikki and everything might fall into place.

She walked along and found the cafe. Walking on she saw the modern lights and bright colours and she liked it. Then she saw Bella singing at the front. What's she doing here? Nixie thought.

She saw a red haired girl at the bar and decided her best bet was to ask her where Zane was.

"excuse me, where can I find Zane?" She asked

"Nixie! Stay away and stop meddling. Especially with things you don't know" Bella shouted a cross the room.

"what?" nixie asked

"your jealous of me and Serina's friendship, it's unfair that you want to spoil it and worse mess with Rikki." She said

"I don't know what your on about" Nixie replied

"you mean, you don't know about Sophie and Zane?" Bella asked

"No? Should I? I came to try and be friends with Rikki. We both witnessed something at mako and she got mad at me when I mentioned something about Zane. I decided to find out why so we could be friends. For you and sirena's sake." nixie explained

"oh, you mean that? You want to be Friends?" Bella asked

"hello? Did anyone want me?" Sophie asked

"I'm fine, don't worry" nixie said

"let's talk somewhere more private" Bella said

"mako? I can get Sirena to come along." Nixie said

"and I'll try to get Rikki" Bella said

"ok, meet me their in an hour" nixie said smiling. Maybe these land people wernt as bad as she thought. Maybe she could give them a chance. After all they had some explainingt I do at mako. What did this Sophie girl have to do with rikki? Now all that's left is to get Lyla to loosen up on the barriers and let the land girls be our friends.


	8. Chapter 7: Ultimate power

It was time...

As I felt the bubbles rise around me and the magic started to happen, the transformation occurred and I, myself had my own tail. My own magic and my own feeling of power against all other ordinary people.

I let myself fall under the moons spell and drop under the surface of the water for a mere second before rising up, floating, feeling weightless and laying on the surface of the sizzling, bubbling water.

Zac stared in astonishment as if still in shock that I had tricked him into this, I smirked at my success and my new wonder. I gazed, completely mesmerised at my ocean blue tail, my new found beauty, my new power against all humanity. In that moment I wondered if this power was too much, if it's overwhelming trust was too much for a simple diver boy like me.

I felt displaced and like I didn't deserve it for the first time in the past few weeks, I felt like I had blackmailed innocent people for what? Greed or was it the at hungry thrust for power?

The need for more and more is what I now have. I came out of the water and my mind wondered as I still stared at my new tail, so shiny. I touched it gently tracing every scale and every crevice.

Zac stood motionless staring at me still and it could almost read his mind, this was his worst nightmare. But for once I thought about myself, I no longer cared for what Zac thought or the girls, I no longer cared about keeping the secret for there sake but only for my own.

The world had revolved around them for too long and now it was my time to shine, to step out of the dark and rule over the mermen! Then my mind decided on it's next topic of thought, powers.

Bella had gelatine, Cleo had moving water, Rikki had heat, what about me? Surely I must have a power. I curled my hand in a Rikki's hand motion but nothing happened, I swiftly curved my fingers around and nothing moved. I stretched my hand out and nothing happened. I looked up at Zac for guidance.

"What now?" I ask simply

"I...I don't know." He answered plainly.

Anger built inside me and I stared at him in anger and hatred.

"you don't know! You stupid merman!" I shouted and raised my arm up at him to help me up from the floor but instead of a help up, Zac was lifted.

He was lifted higher and when I lowered my arm and hand he dropped and as he did he flinched. I smiled. I had Levitation, I could lift objects, people, who knew what else.

My next test was on a large rock across the pool and I lifted it and threw it against the wall and it smashed into pieces.

"Will, you have to stop!" Zac said

"No-one can stop me now Zac! Not even you, I am the ultimate Merman!" I shouted as he ran out to avoid being hit by one of my flying objects in the moon pool. I smirked and I came to the realisation that I could make everyone listen to me. I could control the girls and everyone.

* * *

Back at the boat shed...

I awoke the next morning feeling all the more in the mood for a swim. Sophie came to my bed side and told me to get up which I didn't refuse.

"Why are you so jumpy today?" She asked giving me a strange look.

"No reason, just looking forward to meeting friends" I lied.

Really I wanted to swim. I knew that I should stop of and tell my friends the amazing news though and gloat about it to Zane especially. I walked in and as I approached the table Rikki got up and walked in the direction of Zane's office.

Zac also got up and walked out followed by Lewis who seemed more interested in Zac than me. The other 2 girls sat in silence until I spoke.

"What's up with them?" I asked Cleo and Bella.

"More importantly what's up with you?" Cleo asked "Zac said you almost killed him yesterday and you were talking about ultimate power or something"

"Yeah, and if was just saying that I am possibly the most important merman in the group now and that Zac should step down and let me be the one who leads." I told them

"Will, you threw rocks at him and now you want us to think of you as the king of the group" Bella half asked and half stated

"I'm glad we understand each other" I said smiling

"You know, the Will I met a year ago would never have put himself before others or hurt anyone. You've changed Will and right now I don't know if I want to even be friends with you" Bella said

"What! Are you breaking up with me?" I said a little high pitched "this is who I am now so you are going to have to accept it, your just Jealous" I retorted.

"Jealous, of what? You being a merman, well I have news for you. I am a mermaid too and your no more special than any of us!" She shouted I got up immediately and stormed towards Zane's office where Rikki went, maybe a Rikki might understand me.

I knocked on the door and two voices told me I could come in.

"Oh, it's you." Zane said

"Nice to see you too" I retorted back

"What do you want Will? Are you going to try and kill us too? Oh wait, what was that you ordered earlier, a mango smoothly, do you want a crown with that? Or do you want us to bring you a golden cup to drink it out of?" Rikki said

"Rikki?" I asked puzzled "not you too!"

"Until you learn to act like equals, you can leave this cafe" Zane said

"Fine, you believe me right Rikki?" The whole room went silent for a moment

"Rikki?" i asked desperate

"I'm sorry Will, you have too much power and if your not careful it could come back on you." Rikki said.

"You don't even like Zane, in fact why are you here?" Will asked

"It's none of your business, now get out before I kick you out, personally" Zane said I left the room and walked out.

I guess I will do this by myself, I'm going to go for a swim and cool off. Besides who needs friends? I don't need them or a girlfriend and I certainly don't need to get into the weird world of Rikki and Zane.

**please review people, I hope levitation was what you wanted :)**


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